{"id":6299,"date":"2016-01-29T17:29:22","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T22:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/?p=6299"},"modified":"2016-01-29T17:29:22","modified_gmt":"2016-01-29T22:29:22","slug":"a-place-for-everyone-at-the-biblical-counseling-training-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/a-place-for-everyone-at-the-biblical-counseling-training-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"A Place for Everyone at the Biblical Counseling Training Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a few days nearly two thousand people from around the world will descend on Faith Church and the Lafayette community for a week-long training event known as the Biblical Counseling Training Conference.\u00a0 While it is true that only a handful of Faith Church pastors and members will be involved in the actual teaching, it is important for all of us to understand how and why there is a place for every person in our church family to play an important role in this event.<\/p>\n

Bathing the Conference\u00a0in Prayer<\/h2>\n

A stewardship of this magnitude is far beyond the natural abilities of any or all of us.\u00a0 We desperately need the Lord’s strength, wisdom, and grace as we seek to serve our conference guests well. \u00a0That means that, if you are sitting at your computer screen, operating a fork lift, rocking an infant, or running on a treadmill, you can participate meaningfully in this conference. Simply pause and ask for God’s blessing on our efforts.\u00a0 Please pray that the Lord would give humility as we teach and patience as we answer questions.\u00a0 Ask the Lord for strength and safety.\u00a0 Pray that Jesus would be exalted and His Word held high.\u00a0<\/strong> Even if you are nowhere near our campuses physically during the week, you can be an integral part of our efforts by going to the throne of grace and asking our Lord for help in our time of need.<\/p>\n

Continuing to be a Faithful Church Member<\/h2>\n

The question many of our guests will bring is whether our emphasis on the sufficiency of Scripture and progressive sanctification genuinely produces long-term followers of Christ.\u00a0 Our guests may interact with one of your co-workers or neighbors without you ever knowing it.\u00a0 We often hear reports of conversations at restaurants or local stores where a conferee hears about a member of Faith Church who has stood out in some way because of his\/her faithful lifestyle.<\/p>\n

Paul explained to Titus that this was “adorning the doctrine of God.”\u00a0 There is nothing better than one of our teachers talking about a biblical principle during the day and then one of our guests seeing or hearing about that same concept out in our community later that evening.<\/p>\n

Please do not ever underestimate the powerful example of a changed and changing life.\u00a0<\/strong> Faith is blessed with men and women who have been a joyful part of our ministry for 10, 20, 30, 40 or more years.\u00a0 Such persons may never teach a lecture — but their faithful life affirms the truth of God’s Word in a way that will make a lasting impact on our guests.<\/p>\n

Serving with Joy<\/h2>\n

As I travel around the world I am often told by church leaders that their people simply will not serve the Lord.\u00a0 The expectation is that the paid staff is to do the work of the ministry, but this opposes the biblical principle that pastors were given to “equip the saints to do the work of the ministry” (Ephesians 4:11-16).<\/p>\n

When someone from Faith takes an afternoon off work to empty trash cans or carry books or perform one of the hundreds of behind-the-scenes tasks necessary to keep a conference running, our guests notice.\u00a0<\/strong> They can hardly believe that a teenage boy would give up a vacation day from school to serve at his church.\u00a0 They are shocked to see a stockbroker with an apron on serving lunch or a widow helping in the bookstore.<\/p>\n

We all know that the proof is in the pudding, and our conference guests are constantly sampling the pudding.\u00a0 Your willingness to serve will be a great encouragement to Christian leaders as they contemplate how these biblical principles can be applied in their particular contexts of ministry.<\/p>\n